Skip to main content

star wars - Why did Luke give Leia a red lightsaber, of all colors?


For many years in the Legends EU, Leia used an old hand-me-down lightsaber - a blue one. However, she rarely used it and also neglected her training as a Jedi, long fearing that either her or her children would repeat the mistakes of Darth Vader,




her father (and the grandfather of her children).



However, a third of the way into the novel "Ambush at Corellia", Luke gives her a new lightsaber - one that he built from scratch just for her. The lightsaber is described as smaller than her previous one - fitting her hand much better - and having a red blade.


Knowing Leia's fears of the dark side and the Sith... why did Luke give her a RED lightsaber of all things? And did she ever change the color of her lightsaber?



Answer



I'm sure that in 2015 there's lightsaber crystals available at every corner drug store, but a long time ago they were a little hard to come by.


Lightsaber color used to usually mean something. These days it's left entirely up to personal preference (in and out of universe). Gathering the crystals to create a lightsaber is the hard part. If you have them, you might as well just build a new one. AFAIK, she still has both lightsabers and (I hope) we'll learn very soon which one she prefers, in episode seven.


Creating a Meaning for Lightsaber Colors –scifi.about.com



Even within the Star Wars universe, the meaning of lightsaber colors is not always certain. Jedi vs. Sith: The Complete Guide to the Force, for example, states that the idea of lightsaber colors reflecting their wielders' personalities is a "popular notion," but incorrect. Rather, lightsaber colors depend on the type of crystals used to create the blade.



According to The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force, lightsaber colors originally indicated a Jedi's role in the Order. For example, Jedi Consulars, who focused on non-violence, carried green lightsabers to symbolize peace. Jedi Guardians, on the other hand, carried blue lightsabers as a symbol of uniformity and solidarity. These symbolic colors began around 4,000 BBY. By 1,032 BBY, lightsaber colors were still associated with different types of Jedi, but were neither required nor exclusive. Kerra Holt in Knight Errant, for example, wields a green lightsaber despite having no association with the Jedi Consulars.


The in-universe explanation for the lack of lightsaber color variation in the movies is a lack of colored crystals. According to Jedi vs. Sith, the Empire quarantined or destroyed many sources of lightsaber crystals. This left the Jedi with mostly Ilum crystals, which can only produce green or blue blades. This explains neither the dearth of colors in the Prequels nor the unusual lightsaber colors in the Expanded Universe during the time of the Empire, but it's likely the best explanation fans will get.



After reading, What is the reason that lightsabers have different colors? I can only surmise that Leia's is a natural crystal (which would make it completely okay in my book) and not a synthetic crystal.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...
Post a Comment
Read more